Avossos

47 minutes ago, Reefmonkey said:

One thing that leaps to mind is emergence of Marfa as a hot travel destination, I even know several Houstonians who have vacation homes there. But it's a 9 hour drive, and flights to El Paso  or Midland-Odessa still mean 3 hours in the car to get there once you land, and between driving to Hobby and being in the airport before your flight on top of the flight time, I'm not sure how much time you really save over driving. I've always thought someone operating a Beech King Air between the Sugarland or West Houston airport and Marfa's municipal airport on Friday and Sunday afternoons would be pretty popular, though I'm not naive about the business prospects of such a venture (especially at current fuel costs).

Being able to hop on an Amtrak in downtown Houston and ride to Alpine, then take a 30 minute ride share to Marfa (or Fort Davis) would be great, problem is the current schedule sucks. You get on the Sunset Limited in Houston at 7:00 PM and don't get to Alpine til 10:30 the next morning. Seems nuts that it takes 15 and a half hours by train to go a distance you get get to by car in 9, and costs more than an airplane ticket. Sure, part of the problem is the UP line the Sunset takes isn't a (mostly, except for the insanity of lane changes in San Antonio) straight east west shot like I-10, after San Antonio it heads southwest to Del Rio and meanders along the Mexican border for a while. But it doesn't help that even before that, it takes over 5 hours for the train to get from Houston to San Antonio (a 3 hour car ride), and then you sit at the San Antonio station for almost 3 hours, and make two more stops after that before you get to Alpine. And sure, freight trains having priority on the lines and so Amtrak probably having to pull over onto sidings to let them pass plays a role. I wonder if AmTrak has ever looked into contracting with freight lines like UP and BNSF to add capacity, slap a couple of passengers cars onto a freight consist, especially on routes and second express schedules where it wouldn't make sense for AmTrak to dedicate a whole train. Passenger-freight mixed consists used to be more the rule than the exception in this country once upon a time. The pull cost to the freight line for another car or two would be nominal but they would get a little more revenue from Amtrak, it would save Amtrak a lot of money while opening more revenue to Amtrak. I guess the problem would be scheduling, freighters don't and can't run on schedules that are friendly to passengers and be optimized for freight, and freighters that would normally unload at the big railyard in El Paso, or even heading all the way to LA, having to stop, even briefly in a small town like Alpine they normally bypass, or Marfa they normally run through, would cause backups on the lines. And if there is anything this country doesn't need right now, it's another thing that would disrupt supply chains. So in the end I guess it is just a pipe dream.

I do this to Alpine alot. I like that this is overnight, but I do not enjoy the 4+ hour pause in San Antonio...

I love it. Build!!

It looks to be a townhome farm on both sides of Dart Street!

They should use the correct address in their red tag.. I think it’s 419

I am 100% behind the creation of a historic district. It does way more good, and does prevent from feverish gentrification.

It is a beautiful building and I think a nice addition to the area. I am 100% behind preserving our single family home communities... but this doesn't really harm anything. Some neighbors will see it in their peripheral sights, but I almost think it would improve the area overall.

build baby build!

1 hour ago, mattyt36 said:

Can I re-up this question?  Is Tranquility Park just forgotten until the next "master plan"?

It honestly doesn’t even need to have a full gut. It’s just needs a light facelift. Improved sidewalks… updating landscaping… get the fountains working!

it could be super cool and kind of retro. But it’s useless right now.

Seems to be a combination of metal and masonry for this Home Depot... I haven't seen that before... From the renderings, I was expecting Stucco, but perhaps this is more fitting with the area?

I am very curious how this will turn out. I am one of the minority that is very excited to have a home-depot so close.

1 hour ago, astrohip said:

That makes more sense. Then they could look down on the Audi buyers.

This looks like a 50x100 foot lot.. and if they are using the same formula, this could replace the old apartment on S Sandman and Lexington, that runs North South.

On 4/14/2022 at 8:34 AM, Highrise Tower said:

New condominium project by Pelican Builders. Announced last night on their instagram.

I bet this is between Shepard and greenbrier  

6 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

I’m thinking this as well or the number of stories has increased. Leaning towards the latter because the architectural feature would have to be pretty significant.

I’m all for non flat roofs

This area is technically Houston Heights proper. Interesting they are calling it 'Memorial Heights' which is a made up name... That area is technically called Buffalo Heights (development by Midway takes most of it).

9 hours ago, hindesky said:

This is the nasty tunnel on Houston Ave.

I walk through it a week ago and it was much better!

though it will need to be consistently cleaned. Perhaps the new apartment will bring needed maintenance!

BS! The yellow building is the only decent one on the site.

27 minutes ago, editor said:

Yep.  If you can't do a good flat white, you don't deserve to call yourself Australian, or even Australian-inspired.

I haven't had a great flat white since I got back to Houston.  Any recommendations?

Catalina / Giant Leap

Those for sale Signs are now out-of-date.

24 minutes ago, Ross said:

Nextdoor was blowing up on this one again, although the thread didn't deleted(the last time I looked). Folks decrying the demolition of the house at the back of the property, and how horrible it was that the renters who had lived there for 30+ years had to leave.

They were lucky if renters and rentees both enjoyed that situation for 30 years.

52 minutes ago, kennyc05 said:

It bothers the hell out me that the new park is not on the full city block I don't why 🤦🏽‍♂️

same.

This is quite a bold plan for Urban Genesis - almost a whole campus. I’ve been pleased with their work so far, but tearing down the historic warehouse made me seriously doubt them.

I hope I am again ‘pleasantly surprised’.

4 hours ago, hindesky said:

I was looking at HCAD earlier to see who owned what and it showed Tract A belonged to Houston Police Officers Pension Fund.

Very interesting…

2 hours ago, hindesky said:

The warehouse Buffalo Real Estate Partners listed is now under contract. I would assume Modera would want to add it to their new property next door.

https://buffalorep.com/listing/231-Land-1615-Dart-St-Houston-Tx-77007-Call-For-Pricing/

The link you provided seems to be talking about Track B - 2.3 Acres... However there is a track A that is 1.5 Acres. Are both under contract?

I wouldnt be so sure this is Mill Creek - if these tracks both are U/C this is plenty of space for 2 large scale midrises... potentially 3!

1 hour ago, hindesky said:

Community Impact has a story about the paving of several streets around Center St.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/transportation/2022/03/08/memorial-heights-paving-drainage-project-to-begin-in-march/

 

I drive and ride on both Hicks and Center St. Hicks is in terrible shape and Center isn't much better.

Will this be repaved with concrete, curb, and gutters?

Or just throwing new asphalt down?

1 hour ago, TrainTrak said:

Finally!  Something other than a new apartment building.

And also something that potentially be useful to all the young families moving in! I am all for family-friendly.

Curious - Does anyone think there is a cool historic brick facade behind this bad stucco? The walls are so thick I think there could be, but I have no proof.

13 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Is the school a block up still actually used? If not, another great spot for apartments. Other good spots: 

• The rest of the block between Dart, the tracks, and the newer townhouses
• Block surrounded by Dart, Colorado, Edwards, and Johnson
• Giant parking lot east of Winter Street Studios
• Block between henderson, winter, white, and summer
• Block between Hickory, Dart, and the fire station
• Area north of Elder Street Lofts
• Area between Elder St, Dart, 45, and Ecclesia
• Industrial land between Houston, Spring, and I-10
• Some of the other remaining industrial land north of Spring St
• Suburban nonsense between Crockett, Sawyer, and I-10
• Chick-Fil-A

 

Funny juxtaposition between my comment and yours. I live here, and just hope the area becomes fully rounded with all types uses. I actually would like to see more offices and urban retail type establishments.

The Brock School is lightly used by HISD but certainly can be used more effectively. Might need to be a future Middle school.